Sunday | Aug. 31 | Got news, or a question?

Can't find an appropriate place for your comment? Write it, in this open post. Real Time Comments: here, 24/7. (Earlier editions.)

What I'm doing right now

12:35 a.m., Monday, Ibiza Time: Listening to a remix of Rihanna's Umbrella, and trying to decide whether to go to Croissant-Show to see Sandra.

[Photo: taken by candlelight with my MacBook Pro]

Reader: GCI's 'cloak and dagger' offshoring in UK

Regarding Gannett sending advertising production work to offshore vendor 2AdPro, a reader says: "Gannett's UK arm, Newsquest, is slowly migrating its design work over to 2AdPro and, reading your comments, I fear this is the end of many careers, mine included. What makes it worse is that it's all very cloak and dagger; no announcement, no consultation: silence. For a media company, we're not too good at communicating. I believe some UK sites are already sending a percentage of work over to 2AdPro (with extremely negative results -- no surprise there) and many redundancies have been made across the UK in its production departments."

Join the debate, in the original post.

Earlier: Newsquest editor quits Scottish paper after losses

Newsquest staff: There are 8,100 of you in Gannett's UK division of 17 dailies and hundreds of weeklies. Write more often; I like hearing from you! Post your replies in the comments section, below. Or e-mail gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.

We'd be happy just to get time-and-a-half

"I would pay ya all double-time."

-- Anonymous@10:53 a.m., commenting on Hurricane Gustav staffing at the Hattiesburg American and other Gulf Coast media.

Once tops, Lansing now 'incredible shrinking' paper

Lansing State Journal veterans recall a vibrant newsroom a decade ago, with more than 20 reporters, "including three alone covering the state capital, and reliable coverage of the neighboring communities,'' alternative weekly City Pulse says in a new story, "The Incredible Shrinking Lansing State Journal.''

Now, City Pulse says, "the LSJ’s staff list consists of seven news reporters and three business reporters. The daily capital newspaper, physically located five blocks from the dome, has been mostly relying on Associated Press wire copy for its news coverage since its last Capitol reporter, Chris Andrews, retired in February. One of the seven news reporters, Derek Wallbank, is leaving shortly, and the LSJ has no immediate plans to replace him. Instead, his position has become one of 13 the Journal is slicing off this month to satisfy parent corporation Gannett's orders to eliminate 1,000 jobs. Of the 13 in Lansing, five will be by attrition; the rest will be layoffs."

Amazing: I remember when, in the early 1990s, Gannett held up the LSJ as one of its best newspapers. How times have changed, huh?

Earlier: In Montgomery, watchdog reporting on a budget. Plus: paper-by-paper layoffs

[Image: this morning's front page, Newseum]

Hurricane Gustav sparks overtime pay questions

[Storm tracker: the Hattiesburg American's homepage, moments ago]

Updated at 9:54 p.m. ET. As the mammoth storm stalks the Gulf Coast, readers are debating OT policy in today's edition of Real Time Comments. A sampling:

• "Hattiesburg American news staff has been told it has to spend the night at the paper if Gustaf hits Monday. Do they have to pay us overtime for forcing us to do this?"
• "We're in Gustav's path and the salaried employees have been told they are essential, which means we're supposed to be at work during the worst of the storm."
• "Anyone who doesn't WANT to be at the newspaper when a hurricane hits the town they cover isn't much of a journalist. Overtime? That's the last thing anyone should be thinking about. It's a calling, people."

[Today's print front page, from the Newseum]

Video of the Moment: Indy Star talks to drunks!

And a Gannett Blog reader says: "I have to wonder if this is what Gannett had in mind when they sent all those people to video training. If this is the future of journalism, Lord help us all."

Got a video to, uh, recommend? Please post a link in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.

Phoenix: 27 retire in news; what is paper's total?

The Arizona Republic delayed any layoffs during the recent round of 1,000 Gannett newspaper job cuts, because the big Phoenix newspaper still had buyout offers on the table. Now, in a memo, top Republic editor Randy Lovely (left) says 27 newsroom employees are leaving -- presumably, all in buyouts or traditional retirements. "These individuals have worked tirelessly to provide our readers with a top-notch daily news report,'' he said. "I am enormously grateful for their efforts."

What about other departments at the Republic, which Corporate says employs as many as 2,700? The paper's deteriorating financial situation suggests it was due for big overall job cuts. The Republic is likely the biggest individual workplace within Gannett, which employs about 46,000. Yet, the Phoenix paper has been hit hard over the past 12 months by real estate-related advertising losses. Indeed, Arizona is one of four states (the others are California, Nevada and Florida) where a housing bust has contributed substantially to Gannett's monthly revenue declines, and that big second-quarter earnings dive.

Some 35 Republic pressroom employees were laid off earlier this month, after being denied buyouts extended to the newsroom in July. Combined with the 27 just-announced newsroom losses, that totals 62 jobs paper-wide. Is that the Republic's final count?

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.

Earlier: Paper-by-paper layoffs

[Image: today's Republic front page, Newseum]

August blog traffic: It's the end of a newsy summer

Amid a surge in readers, the five most clicked-on August posts:

• Gannett said laying off 600 newspaper employees; pub's memo discloses total 1,000 jobs getting axed
• Roll call: Say goodbye to your pink-slipped friends
• Gannett starts issuing pink slips: 600 jobs at stake; employees tally historic losses; blog updates all day
• Des Moines: News job cuts, and a 'have-fun' e-mail
• As layoffs begin, spotlight shifts to USA Today

Updated at 5:44 a.m. ET, Sept. 1. News drove traffic sky-high this month -- to levels I doubt can be sustained, a new Google Analytics report says. Unique visitors in August jumped 66% from July, to nearly 29,000 (why that metric is tricky). Visits rose 59%, to about 119,000. And page views soared 90%, to about 273,000.

For context: Gannett employs about 46,000. And industry-leading blogger Jim Romenesko nabs 100,000 individual visitors a day.

Free inside!
Google Analytics has the traffic data, available in a free report I make available to anyone, via gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]. See Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.

[Image: Google Analytics]

Labor Day Weekend: Blogging will be light

[Workers march through Chicago in a 1915 Labor Day parade]

I'm taking it easy most of this weekend, the traditional close of summer in the United States. Many of you are celebrating the holiday, too, so traffic here will be light. As always, though, I'll stay on top of your e-mail and comments. Barring breaking news, I'll see you in a bigger way on Tuesday.

[Photo: Library of Congress American Memory site. This photonegative was taken by a Chicago Daily News photographer, and published in the paper May 1, 1915]

Reader: Why a USA Today editor shares ideas here

"I simply don't feel comfortable stating this in any other venue at this time for reasons I can't reveal. It's not like I haven't tried."

That was from a comment today by Anonymous@12:27 p.m., a reader who says they're a USA Today editor. Although the subject is USAT, the writer's frustration is shared by many employees across Gannett. Indeed, in a sign of that frustration, the reader wrote their comment on Gannett Blog, despite USA Today Publisher Craig Moon's reported admonition at Wednesday's staff meeting that employees instead take concerns to supervisors. The comment (originally on this post) is quite long, but well worth reading:

'A lot of smoke'
I concur that many USA TODAY editors are lacking in various ways as managers and visionaries. Too many are into simple labels and simple solutions. While some folks might be afraid of change, I am not one of them. And I am an editor! I am a manager who, perhaps surprisingly to some, tends to agree with a lot of what is said here.

Where I see smoke, I tend to think there is fire. And I see a lot of smoke on this blog. Granted, there are also some purely personal grudges and malicious comments here. I think most who read this blog are educated enough to understand the difference. I also think most are wise enough to respect varying opinions, though some seem overly defensive for whatever reason.



I have been accused of being an obstructionist, and it hurts because my bosses simply do not know my heart let alone my mind. To label someone unjustly, I've come to realize, is to lose that person in spirit, loyalty and productivity. Trust becomes fractured. Victims of stereotyping shut down. I try my best not to do that to the people who I supervise, although there are instances when it is clear that someone is exactly what they project. Sometimes they are incompetent, limited in their work ethics or skills. Sometimes they are complainers with no honorable motives. Some do abuse the system.



'Critical mistake' bosses make
I try to judge each person's actions and comments on their own merit and don't look to cubbyhole anyone based on limited interaction with them or vague perceptions told to me by others. However, I know that some of my fellow editors are incapable or unwilling to look beneath the surface of what staffers or other editors are trying to tell them.

These editors are under pressure to do certain things, meet difficult demands from the highest levels. The critical mistake they make is in abandoning comments and input made by folks on the front line. Those folks on the front line are the ones who have to deal with the consequences of decisions made at the top. They have a large stake in how things go, and a wealth of experience to provide insights that might prevent some major errors and damage that can't be reversed.

Day in and day out the staffers and editors who are out front have to overcome the poor planning that was done by their bosses. I am a boss; I see it. It's maddening and exhausting to continually be led down the wrong road, knowing as you go down it that you're simply following orders to march off a cliff. But good soldiers do just that. And to do anything else is to be thought of as a renegade by some. That's unfortunate for some individuals, and it's ultimately bad for business.



The burnout level of lower and mid-managers in particular has always been high in all companies for reasons we all know. But when mid-managers and their staffs have little or no say in their futures or day-to-day tasks, it can be unbearable just coming to work. They are put into losing situations before the day even begins by short-sighted planning from the top, by a gross lack of resources and by longtime issues that have never been resolved.

These issues are fixable, but the will has to be there. I don't always see that will in the USA TODAY newsroom. I see some lip service. I see some surrender and even denial. Once in awhile an honest attempt is made to fix something, but because this is a territorial newsroom, things aren't always easily resolved.



All this frustration can lead to confrontation. I have witnessed an increase in newsroom conflicts in the last year. It's a disturbing trend that I was just discussing with another editor and staffer on Wednesday. Much of it is subtle, but to someone in the middle of the storm each day, it is quite obvious.
Editors making broad-based decisions need to understand that the pressure they are feeling from above is not a valid excuse to make bad decisions. Those decisions feed into the anxieties of staffers when not processed well. While some departments are functioning reasonably well, some aren't. Some are faced with far broader changes than others. Those changes must be handled correctly.



My main point
Managing editors, deputy managing editors and other top managers need to understand that just as it's counterproductive for someone to be afraid of change or argue groundlessly against it, it is at least equally destructive to change JUST for the sake of change, so that an ME or DME can show the top editor that they did something. That "something" has to really be thought out. Critical decisions can't just make superficial sense, but when examined more closely, have unlimited holes in it. That something often leads to major problems. I see this pattern repeated over and over. Some trial and error is understandable, but not every major change should be approached with the attitude of, "Well, if this doesn't work we'll try something else." We're not in a position anymore to experiment on a large scale. We have to be more reasonably sure things will work before they are enacted.



What works, what doesn't
A lot of things work well at USA Today. If they didn't, the paper would not have risen to No. 1. Many of those things that worked well for the paper could be adopted in the future. There are some proven principles and people that should not be abandoned just because they aren't trendy. There are certain relationships and alliances that should be maintain and nurtured. Some workflows are highly efficient and help us do the impossible every single day. Details about everything from seating arrangements and schedules to flow charts and titles need to be put under the microscope because neglecting just one of those details could bring down a pretty good and broader plan. The big picture is important, but so are the little "quality of life" issues that can make work much more rewarding, or can turn a job into an impossible situation for one person or an entire team.



Yes, despite USA TODAY's success, there are also many things that need to be fixed and changed dramatically. I am a huge proponent of change and of repairing things that don't work. But, thus far, I see a lot of things being tinkered with that do work, and a lot of other things being introduced that have been proven failures in the recent past. I feel like some managers are forcing a nut onto a bolt, even at the risk of stripping the both. They appear to just want to say, "look the nut is on the bolt," regardless of whether it's on there properly and without damaging either.

There is a way to change but also preserve what is working and has always worked. There is a way to move forward but not abandon lessons learned from the past. If editors making key decisions can blend change/new ideas with respect for history, there will be greater efficiency, more buy-in and less concern about being wrongfully labelled.

Why I came to Gannett Blog
I truly hope this makes sense and that certain courses of action can be examined further as the industry evolves both at USA TODAY and other newsrooms.
I somewhat regret having to express my ideas (I had to avoid specifics, sorry) here rather than to my supervisors directly, but I simply don't feel comfortable stating this in any other venue at this time for reasons I can't reveal. It's not like I haven't tried.

I know some of the ideas I have outlined don't relate to every department at USA TODAY, but I feel I have heard enough from around the building, and certainly have been adversely impacted by decisions from my team leaders to validate my opinions. I believe that most of my remarks here are a reflection of how the folks I supervise generally feel, though I don't claim every observation is universally seen.



I am also asking Jim to post this as a separate item on the blog so that it will be more visible and that something good can come from it. Regardless, I hope everyone will take this in the spirit it is given. I don't want to be confrontational or alarmist. But some things just need to be brought to light for the sake of USA TODAY and a number of people I respect and whose careers hang in the balance for various reasons.

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.

[Images: recent screenshots from USAT's website]

Tenn. pub's retirement spurs consolidation chatter

Gene Washer's retirement today as publisher of The Leaf-Chronicle has readers here wondering whether Gannett may use his departure as an opportunity to do away with the top job at the daily in Clarksville, Tenn. Washer, 68, leaves after 45 years at the newspaper -- 13 under GCI ownership. A replacement for Washer "will be named soon," the paper says in a very (!) long story, quoting Ellen Leifeld, publisher of The Tennessean in Nashville, and vice president of Gannett's South Newspaper Group, which includes the Clarksville daily.

But with GCI cutting costs by asking publishers to oversee multiple papers, Gannett Blog readers are speculating on this open-comments post about what's next in Clarksville:

• "If you have another Gannett paper near by, you might have a shared pub. A few papers are already putting a pub over more than one paper."
• "Nearest Clarksville is Nashville, where the publisher has her hands filled already. . . . The retiring Clarksville publisher is 68, three years beyond normal retirement age, and kept around to allow GCI to figure out what to do. I gather he got fed up waiting for a decision after three years. The big game plan, I once heard, involved folding both the Leaf-Chronicle and the Murfreesboro Daily News Journal into the Tennessean, despite the distances involved. Think that plan still alive, maybe part of the move towards creating statewide newspapers in Arizona, New Jersey and Tennessee. Stay tuned."
• "Putting middle Tennessee together a long-time GCI dream. Dickson, Gallatin, Henderson, Fairview and Ashland already under the Tennessean, so it would only be a small step to bring in Clarksville and Murfreesboro. The problem is that the Tennessean's presses are already contracted out to other publications, including Nashville Scene, City Paper, and the Nashville Business Journal. Cramming the other publications would be very difficult, but would save a huge amount of money. Since Gannett is looking for cost savings, I'll bet they will go ahead with this plan and work out the difficulties afterwards."

Gannett's Tennessee papers

• Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville: 21,253 daily, 24,551 Sunday
• The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro: 14,635 daily, 18,159 Sunday
• The Jackson Sun, Jackson: 31,596 daily, 36,915 Sunday
• Tennessean, Nashville: 162,911 daily, 224,318 Sunday

[Image: a recent screenshot from the Leaf-Chronicle's homepage; circulation data, 2007 Annual Report to shareholders]

What I'm doing right now

8:31 p.m., Ibiza Time: Getting ready to have dinner with Sandra at our place.

Attn: Human resources chief Roxanne Horning

"I'm very frustrated by their stonewalling."

-- Anonymous@12:35 p.m., commenting on HR's inability to provide a status report on when a lump-sum pension payout will arrive. See today's open post at Real Time Comments.

Readers: Six workers laid off at KPNX-TV in Phoenix

Gannett's big NBC affiliate in the Arizona city laid off six workers yesterday -- "with more probable,'' according to one of two e-mails I've received. "There is speculation that after the digital transition in February, if not sooner, they will lay off the whole operations department, farming out operations to a hub."

The second note says management has promised there are no more layoffs in the works, and that yesterday's cuts are meant to shield the station against scary economic predictions for the next budget year. A decline in auto-related advertising was cited as primary reason.

Earlier: Layoffs hit the TV division, too; details, please!

Cutbacks at your station? Please post details in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.

Nervous glances: Corporate, Craig Moon -- and me

[Glass palace: Gannett and USA Today headquarters]

Hardly anyone talked about Corporate at USA Today during the nearly eight years I worked for the company's flagship -- a big change from the three smaller newspapers where I was a reporter and editor in Little Rock, Boise and Louisville, Ky. At the community papers, Corporate -- and that's what people called it -- hung over us like a big, ominous cloud. Top executives back at Arlington, Va., and then McLean, Va., after the company relocated in 2001, liked to say they always deferred to "local control.''

But that was complete and total bullshit. In newsrooms at the smaller papers, the editor or publisher would make sudden, odd requests that we do something. When we asked why, the short answer would be: "Corporate.'' No more questions allowed.

Polished granite vs. threadbare carpet
It was entirely different at USA Today. The paper shared a luxurious building with Gannett -- but that was it. USAT wasn't subject to the onerous rules forced on the smaller papers: We rarely worried about diversity and mainstreaming, programs designed to feature more minorities in news stories. The quality control programs -- News 2000, then Real Life, Real News -- didn't apply to us. There was much more money for business travel. And if you worked at the main office in McLean, you were cosseted in a gleaming glass office complex with granite floors, acres of stainless-steel details, a nice cafeteria, on-site gym facilities, a softball field and other amenities. The newsrooms where I worked employed nearly 500 often well-paid reporters, editors, artists and others.

Contrast that with the Idaho Statesman when I arrived in late 1991. The dirty, threadbare carpeting in the dimly-lit newsroom was literally held down with duct tape. Desks and chairs were old and battered. The closest thing we had to a cafeteria was the dreary, windowless "breakroom'' with vending machines. Staffing was razor-thin: As the business-news editor, I had virtually no support from the understaffed copy desk: I edited and wrote stories; laid out the section, and oversaw page production in the back shop. I routinely put in 10- and 11-hour days, and worked most weekends. I got no overtime or comp time, of course, because I was in management.

Curley's mysterious exit
USA Today started getting dragged into Corporate's fold around 2003, when Publisher Tom Curley (left) -- a likely successor to then-CEO Doug McCorkindale -- bolted Gannett to become CEO of the Associated Press. (We were never told why, of course, but it appeared to follow a clash between the two executives.)

Craig Moon, publisher of The Tennessean in Nashville, replaced Curley. USAT staff began worrying that Moon would manage the newspaper more like one of Gannett's 84 smaller titles: The budget would be reined in. Worker productivity demands would rise. In other words, USA Today would start carrying more of the load.

None of that surprised me. I had worked for Moon (left) once before, when he was publisher of The Arkansas Gazette for about two years, ending in early 1991, not long before Gannett shut down the paper amid a bruising newspaper war with a cross-town rival. By then, Moon had been promoted to Nashville, already on the road to Corporate.

I didn't see Moon again for another 14 years years. By then, he'd been USAT publisher for about a year, and was making a surprise visit to the San Francisco bureau, where I worked as a business-news reporter. We had exchanged a few e-mails during the previous months about his impending choice for a new top editor, after Karen Jurgensen got bounced during the Jack Kelley scandal. I urged Moon to consider one editor in particular for the opening -- someone other than the Tennessean's Mark Silverman; the rumor mill had placed Silverman on Moon's short list. (Moon eventually hired Ken Paulson -- but not before offering the job to someone else, I was told.)

Moon's nervous look
On that day when Moon visited San Francisco, I don't think he remembered that I worked in the office there. I buzzed him inside, then re-introduced himself. Maybe it was my imagination, but it seemed like an uncomfortable look crossed his face, as in: Uh-oh: A Little Rock survivor. I wonder what Hopkins remembers?

(Confidential to everyone: I remember everything. Maybe that explains some of the antics at yesterday's USA Today staff meeting? Or, maybe he's still pissed off about this.)

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.

[Images: headquarters, Kohn Pedersen Fox Architects; today's USAT front page, Newseum]

Reminder: Add yourself to our laid-off worker list

I'm asking the 600 laid-off newspaper employees to post information about themselves -- including job titles and ages -- so we can see if there's a pattern in who Gannett asked to leave the company. Don't be forgotten: Add details about yourself on the post, here.

Earlier: Our paper-by-paper layoff list

Questions? Write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.

USA Today staff meeting: What's the news today?

Updated at 12:43 p.m ET. There apparently was no big news, I've now been told.

Earlier: Publisher Craig Moon (left) has scheduled an all-hands meeting for 11 a.m. today -- but without revealing the agenda. Amid hundreds of recent layoffs at other newspapers, Moon's opaqueness two weeks ago has stirred speculation that the ax will soon fall at the nation's No. 1 circulation paper, too.

Since my metier is encouraging poisonous comments (inside joke, involving USAT's top editor), I'm convening the first-ever session of Gannett Blog University today. The class: live commenting on news events. Starting at 11 a.m., I'd like USA Today staff attending the meeting to report any news, in the comments section, below. (Note: I'll have online access only by iPhone until about 3 p.m. ET, so will have only limited ability to update this post.)

Some of my readers say USAT employees -- especially in editorial -- get what they deserve today: "The USA Today newsroom is soft and spoiled, plain and simple. That's why they don't question authority. They want to maintain their gym memberships, play on their ball fields and tennis courts (part of the Gannett/USAT complex), go home by 5 or 6 every night. They enjoy their views of the Ritz-Carlton from their terrace and their lattes made fresh on Corporate grounds. Many of them have forgotten what it's like to work at other Gannett papers. Some never did work in the smaller sweatshops so they have nothing to compare the glass palace with. Many USAT people still have it made compared to most folks at other Gannett properties. On some level, perhaps they know that, which is why they fall into line so easily."

Please post details from today's 11 a.m. staff meeting ASAP, in the comments section, below, after the meeting starts.

[Image: yesterday's USAT print edition, Newseum]

Layoffs hit the TV division, too; details, please!

[Cutting staff? Screenshot of WBIR-TV's website in Knoxville, Tenn.]

Gannett's 23 TV stations are eliminating jobs in a new wave of layoffs that apparently mirrors the cuts just enacted at the company's newspaper division, Gannett Blog readers tell me. I'm now looking for more details about the scale of this reduction, including the targeted number of jobs to be eliminated, and the date when this campaign began. (See my questions, below.)

Here's one of the latest notes I've received: "Gannett broadcasting is 'restructuring' its broadcast operations. I know this for a fact; I was re-organized right out of a job at the Knoxville, Tenn., station. Master control at all the TV stations is being centralized in either Jacksonville, Fla. (NBC and ABC), or Greensboro, N.C. (CBS). Graphics is being centralized in Denver -- and graphic artists have been laid off at all the stations, with the 10 largest stations retaining one artist. All the news graphics will done by the news producers and reporters via an automated graphics system (can anyone say, lots of typos?)

"At my former station, at least 13 people (out of 130) have been laid off, including my boss. He was in charge of programming, new media and commercial production. All of us in commercial production were laid off: Two were turned into 'backpack' client-services producers and moved into sales. They are being managed by a GSM who doesn't think quality is important. ('Everyone just watches it on YouTube or their phone, so quality isn't important.' She actually said that to me! Gee, then why is everyone buying those HD, plasma-screen monitors? Don't you think they want to see pretty pictures?)

"So, my friend, newspapers aren't the only ones feeling the pain. The TV guys are taking it on the chin, as well."

Did broadcasting division President Dave Lougee (left) notify employees in a memo? (If so, can you shoot it my way?) Or did he follow newspaper division chief Bob Dickey's example, and leave the dirty work to individual station managers? Please post replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.

Earlier: Layoffs at WLBZ-TV. Plus: Graphics group a 'clusterfuck'

Blog: Louisville no longer replacing missed papers

If a Courier-Journal carrier skips you, or someone steals your paper, or if it gets wet, and you call for a replacement, "it's not gonna happen," the 'Ville Voice says. "There will be no re-delivery of missed papers on weekdays."

The paper eliminated the customer service because its circulation department was especially hard hit in the recent round of layoffs, the blog says. The Louisville, Ky., paper laid of 15 of its 1,100 employees.

The blog quotes a memo it says newly appointed Publisher Arnold Garson sent to the staff: "This is a step other newspapers have taken to help reduce costs with minimal impact. Saturday and Sunday redelivery continues."

Has your newspaper discontinued re-delivery of missed papers? Was the impact as minimal as Garson said? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.

Earlier: New Louisville pub's age raises tenure questions

[Image: today's Courier-Journal front page, Newseum]

What I'm doing right now

1:01 p.m., Ibiza Time: Heading to the beach with Sparky. I want to make sure I beat retired CEO Al Neuharth, as we enter the final stretch for this Labor Day's race for the Hawaiian Tropic George Hamilton-Christina Aguilera Grand Prix du Festival Cup.

Ramping up layoffs, Honolulu cuts another 27

Barely a month after abruptly laying off 54 employees, The Honolulu Advertiser says it will now cut 27 more jobs as it consolidates seven community newspapers into four. The cuts come as the paper remains embroiled in a contract dispute with a local affiliate of the Newspaper Guild.

The retrenchment involves the Advertiser's Pacific Media Publications arm, which produces PennySaver and Buy & Sell, as well as four of the paper's seven community newspapers on Oahu, Publisher Lee Webber said in a memo last night. "This consolidation and workforce reduction is not a reflection of the fine work of our people,'' his memo says. "Rather, it reflects the continued economic decline. The consolidation will reconfigure our company so it can thrive more efficiently and effectively for our customers as we move into the future.''

Combined with its earlier layoffs, the Advertiser will have reduced its workforce of about 700 by nearly 12% since mid-June -- one of the highest rates among all Gannett newspapers in the recent round of 600 layoffs.

Earlier: Our paper-by-paper layoff list

[Image: today's front page, Advertiser]

What USAT's 200-or-so reporters hear from editors

I'VE GOT FIVE MINUTES BEFORE MY NEXT BUDGET MEETING, AND ONCE MORE THE BUDGET IS BARE!!!!!! Whatcha got for me on Wednesday's ginormous, show-up-or-get-spanked staff meeting???!!!

Kindly post your thoughts in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.

Detroit: Freep's Andrews is leaving in a buyout

Detroit Free Press Executive Editor Caesar Andrews, one of Gannett's most prominent minority news executives, is taking a voluntary buyout and will leave the Freep, effective Nov. 10, the paper reports today: "Andrews, 49, joined the Free Press in September 2005 as part of the new management team after Gannett bought the newspaper from Knight Ridder. He said he is taking a voluntary buyout and is unsure of his next career move, but he expressed interest in journalism education and civic foundations."

Andrews joined Gannett in 1979, as a staff writer at what's now Florida Today at Cocoa, Fla. In a mid-afternoon memo, top editor Paul Anger said Andrews would continue with all the duties and responsibilities of executive editor until that date.

The memo continues: "Caesar told me at the beginning of his outstanding tenure here that for years he had considered making a career change, and there could come a time when he would decide to do something else besides editing. I had hoped that time would never come, and we've delayed making this announcement in the hope that he might change his mind or that another challenge could be found in the company.

"Caesar has his own thoughts that he will share with you. Here's one more from me:

"We could have had no better editor, partner, colleague and friend than Caesar these last three years, through much change, many challenges, and much incredible journalism. We all know that, and I feel personally and deeply indebted to him."

In a note of his own, Andrews says:

"By the time I depart in early November, I intend to have expressed my personal gratitude to the many people who made my three years in Detroit as fulfilling as just about any stage in my career.

"More than once I have marveled at my good fortune to work at a place as legendary as the Free Press. The talent on this staff is outstanding. So is the journalism, some of it among the best I've ever witnessed."

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.

[Image: today's front page, Newseum]

Reports: Asbury Park Press laying off 120 drivers

Multiple tips from readers while I was at the beach, including this one: "At a 5:00 a.m. meeting this morning, the Asbury Park Press in Neptune, N.J., gives all of its route drivers four weeks' notice that they are being fired. It's about 60 full-timers and 60 part-timers. We will get one week's severance pay for each year of service, plus a four-week bonus. We just have to stay until Sept. 28 to get the severance. If we get fired or quit, we get nothing."

The spouse of one driver writes: "The routes are going to be subcontracted out to individuals who are willing to work seven days a week, collect the payments from stores, earn no vacation, holiday, or sick time, and no health benefits. The drivers have been offered these routes before they are advertised to the public later this week. Who in their right mind would take it? You have to pay for the upkeep of the vehicle (provided by APP); you have to go out yourself to collect the payments from the stores, and still have to work at night to get the paper out to the stores -- all this just to stay in a dying industry."

Are any other Gannett businesses laying off drivers? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.

Earlier: Donovan confirms layoffs, cites 'adverse' conditions

[Image: today's front page, Newseum]

Olympics '08: Lopresti is 'face and voice of Gannett'

[Closing ceremony: Fireworks light up "Bird's Nest" stadium]

Last of a series by Gannett Blog Olympics news analyst Ed Hutcheson, a pen name for one of my long-time readers. An employee at a GCI paper, Ed filed dispatches about the Summer Games, which ended yesterday with the closing ceremonies. Back to you, Ed -- and thanks for your insight!

Mike Lopresti, the national sports columnist for Gannett News Service, has been the face and the voice of Gannett at the Beijing Olympics. Lopresti isn’t for everyone. His understated Midwest everyman's persona may not play well in other parts of the country. His style of writing, with its often distinctive cadence, sometimes seems overdramatic.

In Beijing, Lopresti (left, reporting at Tiananmen Square) looked past the scores, past the U.S. teams, even past sports itself, to find the stories within. As he often has at America's biggest sporting events over the past 25 years, Lopresti rises to the occasion.

Consider Thursday's column on Becky Hammon, an American playing on the Russian basketball team. Lopresti puts today's Olympics into perspective for the folks back home:

"Her dilemma is the Olympian dilemma now, where borders are not worth the ink it takes to print them on a map. Where the republic of Georgia strikes back at the Russian invasion with imported Brazilians in beach volleyball. . . . Where many table tennis competitions come down to whoever has the best former Chinese player. And where an American woman, with no grandmother back in Moscow or any other family lineage, plays for the Russians because they need a guard and are willing to fast-track a passport for her. Plus get her a nice contract on a Russian club team. The Olympics are now like major league baseball. They have gone free agency."

How did Lopresti know about Brazilians as Georgians facing Russians? He was there: He wrote about it Aug. 13, with the Russian invasion of Georgia as the backdrop.

How did Lopresti know about China's dominance of table tennis? He was there: He wrote about it Aug. 18, comparing it to the Super Bowl but also noting that "Olympic players have to chase down their errant balls, just like we do in the basement."

Of course, Lopresti writes about the biggest U.S. names -- swimmer Michael Phelps, gymnast Alicia Sacramone, soccer goalie Hope Solo and the men's basketball team. But he also found an Iraqi sprinter on Aug. 11: "Back home in Iraq, where the athletes have died like everyone else, there are two running tracks Dana Abdul-Razak can use to make herself a sprinter. One requires ignoring the scars from the mortar shells. The other is two hours away. This is the route a woman must take, dashing through a war to get to the Olympics."

Visiting Tiananmen Square
Lopresti took his own route to the truth in Beijing, strolling through its repressive past on his way to these Olympics. Even before the Games opened, Lopresti went to Tiananmen Square, chatting up the locals to get a sense of life in China today, but asking what many wonder: What do you know of “the Tank Man,” the solitary protester who became the symbol of the crushed 1989 rebellion?

"It happened here?" says one.

"No one knows about that," says another.

Watch the video that accompanies that remarkable column.

[Photos: closing ceremony, Greg Baker, Associated Press; Russian beach volleyball player Natalia Uryadova, right, hugs Cristine Santanna of Georgia, Reuters; Lopresti, screenshot from GNS video; lone Tiananmen protester, Jeff Widener, AP]